“What?”
“Knew you’d have to go say goodnight to the kids sooner or later. Just surprised you were able to wait so long. But you know they’re in good hands with Mrs. Schwartz.”
“Oh. Right. Yeah.” I shift on my feet, belatedly realizing I left my slippers in Forest’s suite. My thong too.
Dad grabs a bottle of water from the fridge in the kitchenette, takes a long swig, and ambles back toward his room. “Well, try to get some sleep. We have to be up early if we want to catch breakfast before the conference starts. See you in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Daddy.”
“Sure is nice to hear that again.” He turns in his doorway and pats his chest. “Hurt an old man’s old heart when you girls started calling me Dad.”
I shuffle closer to him. “You remembered to take your pills, right?”
His brows lift as he silently thinks about it. “Plum forgot. I’ll go do that now.” He winks. “Don’t tell your mother.”
“Oh, I’m definitely going to tell her.”
Dad scowls but replaces it quickly with a smile before he shuts his bedroom door.
“Tum-Tum!” Sebastian yells, yanking his hand out of Mrs. Schwartz’s grip. He sprints toward me as fast as he can…faster than the useless Mrs. Schwartz, even in her fancy sneakers. I told Forest she wouldn’t be able to keep up, but did he listen? Noooo. Frickin’ men.
“Sorry, Mr. Woods,” Mrs. Schwartz says, attempting to catch up.
I push out of my chair at the table Dad had reserved to have breakfast with everyone downstairs in the hotel lobby. “Sebby!” I say happily, rushing toward him in my heels, sweeping the toddler up in my arms, twisting side to side while we hug. “I’ve got him,” I snap when Mrs. Schwartz lifts her arms to take him from me, and then I give her my back.
From Forest’s arms as he and Josephine trail behind Mrs. Schwartz, Benjamin squawks, clapping his hands when he sees me. I refuse to look Forest in the face, freshly showered and dressed in a nice suit that fits him impeccably well.
“Good morning, Benny,” I say, motioning for Forest to switch kids with me. Benjamin gives me a gummy smile, and I kiss his cheek, inhaling his loveable baby scent. “Good morning, Josie,” I say to Josephine next, wanting to pull her into a hug.
“Morning,” she murmurs, tucking her chin to her chest.
She pushes past me to get in line at the buffet, where Dad is already loading up his plate with all the foods his doctor told him he should be eating—basically everything he doesn’t want to. Not five seconds after I texted Mom this morning about Dad forgetting to take his pills, she called him and chewed his ass out. As she should. Dad’s been grumbling about his daughters spiking his blood pressure all morning…hence the very reason why he needs to remember to take his meds.
“I’m worried about Josephine,” Forest says, stepping closer.
“Me too,” I whisper.
“I don’t think she’s smiled once all week.”
“Maybe you should take her out to do something fun, just the two of you, tonight. Give her some one-on-one time. I’m sure she’s been missing that since you brought the boys home.”
“Good idea,” he says with a nod. “Have you eaten yet?”
“No. We just got here.”
I startle slightly when he rests his hand on my lower back, pushing me toward Dad. “Sit, and I’ll grab you a plate,” he says, pulling out my chair positioned between the highchairs Dad and I had already brought to the table.
I lift my brows, choosing not to respond as we get the boys buckled into their seats.
“So…Autumn,” Mrs. Schwartz says when she sits at the head of the table on my left. “I haven’t seen you since Shayla’s kids went back to school. How have you been?”
“Fine,” I mutter, looking everywhere but at her.
“That’s good to hear.” A beat passes in silence before she asks, “How are things at the firm? Forest told me you’re working under him?”
Under him.I certainly wanted to be last night. Ugh. “It’s fine,” I say, drumming my fingers on the tabletop.
The table falls quiet as we wait for everyone else to join us. Dad pulls out the chair directly across from me for Josephine, then takes his seat catty-corner to Mrs. Schwartz. He’s much warmer with her, striking up a conversation about Shayla’s kids, for which she seems grateful, avoiding my chilly attitude. Every once in a while, Dad grimaces after taking a bite of his egg white omelet or dry turkey bacon, which makes me laugh. In turn, it makes him grumble that much worse, which then, of course, makes me laugh even harder.
